Former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko is an innocent man who is being hounded by the state. The government wants him jailed and is doing everything possible to make sure this happens.
That is what the Daily Nation reported on February 4 in its lead story under the headline, “Sonko staring at long prison term”(p.1).
The former governor was already facing corruption cases when he was arrested and arraigned in Kiambu last week for other charges including assault.
And then on Wednesday, February 3, police arrested Sonko and applied to the court to detain him for 30 days as they carried out investigations over his alleged involvement in terrorist activities.
Chief Inspector Newton Thimangu of the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit said in an affidavit that Sonko was “recruiting a militia group to disrupt the peace and stability of the nation leading to anarchy which can escalate to civil disobedience of law and order to the detriment of peace-loving Kenyans”.
Thimangu swore that the former governor has been wearing military attire that is associated with terrorist groups. “The suspect herein has started arming his private security agents with full military attire namely military boots, military jungle uniforms and firearms,” the affidavit read.
“I have intelligence information that the suspect is connected to financing terrorism activities and is in advanced stages of procuring arms and ammunition using a wide syndicate, which is complex and sophisticated.”
The Nation reported that, “The state security machinery last evening engaged a higher gear as it activated all options at its disposal to send former city governor Mike Sonko to jail.”
What does this intro mean? Courts – not state security machinery – send criminals to jail. But this story sounds like Sonko’s guilt or innocence over the charges he faces is beside the point. The government wants him behind bars. Period. Why? Kimathi Street did not say.
“Whether Mr Sonko, a politician who beat all odds on his way to the top before tumbling down, has finally run out of the proverbial nine lives of a cat, will be known in the coming days,” the report said.
Of course. “Will be known in the coming days” is as helpful a piece of information as the other cliché that journalists love: “only time will tell”.
But there was plenty of editorializing in these first two paragraphs of the Nation story. State security machinery reportedly “activated all options” to lock up Sonko. Was Nation certain “all options” were activated? What were those? No details were supplied to support this allegation.
Second, the paper described Sonko as “a politician who beat all odds on his way to the top”. What odds? Kimathi Street assumed this opinion to be a self-evident fact.
Apparently, the state will stop at nothing to jail Sonko. “At the moment, however, the plan is to push him into a corner where he can’t speak,” the Nation reported.
This is significant. But is it a fact or an opinion? What exactly is the “plan” to persecute Sonko and who is behind it? What does Kimathi Street know? Why not state this secret plan explicitly instead of hiding behind the vague claim that the state wants to “push him into a corner where he can’t speak”? Journalists, after all, are in the business of communication, which requires clarity.
Seven fat paragraphs down, the Daily Nation implied the government was persecuting Sonko for political reasons and that the criminal charges against him are a mere smokescreen.
“Mr Sonko, who has been a thorn in the flesh of the Jubilee administration after falling out with President Kenyatta, already faces three corruption cases,” the paper reported.
Perhaps Sonko’s politics and his criminal prosecution for corruption, assault and now terrorism are a coincidence. Maybe not. Don’t you think Kimathi Street owes Kenyans some clarity about the alleged state “plan” to push Sonko into a corner where he can’t speak? That would be bold journalism, not speculation.
